Teenage Bedtimes

As technology advances and Generation Z continues to need it for school, work, and their social life, circadian clocks are breaking. And with the next crop of teenagers with Generation Alphas born after 2010, teenagers will continue to have distractions from dusk until dawn.

“Our body contains a circadian clock, which helps to keep time for many biological functions,” said Andrew Phillips, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “One of the key markers of the circadian clock is melatonin. Usually, at nighttime, our circadian clock sends a signal that tells us to release melatonin overnight.”

Circadian phase delay occurs when your sleep pattern is delayed two hours or more from a conventional sleep pattern, causing you to go to sleep later and wake up later. Entering adolescence changes sleep patterns and rhythms which make teens sleepier and a goal to make the most of the day to stay up late.

“Less sleep results in daytime sleepiness, poor school performance, and behavioral and mental health problems,” said Ian Campbell, a project scientist in the Department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, Davis. With more distractions, sleep is hard to fit into the number of things filling your teenager’s life.

But what if you changed up your household routine to make certain your teen fits in an extra hour of sleep? Campbell’s study found four consecutive nights of consistent bedtimes and wake-up times increased the participant’s sleep cycle by an hour.

An extra hour of sleep can be the key for a teenager to tackle all their responsibilities, but it doesn’t mean it will be an easy sell to your teen.

FOMO

With technology being integrated into their courses, homework, and apps to connect with their friends, all of this is adding up to more Smartphone addictions and a fear of missing out (FOMO). FOMO research started in 1996 and shifted toward the phenomenon of social media usage. Social media has become a lifestyle with bragging rights. When we aren’t invited to the party of a friend, we obsess over why through viewing pictures of who is there taking our place.

With 8 to 10 hours sleep needed for a teen, studies show an average of 6.9 hours sleep by the time they enter senior year: a 1.5 hour decrease from sixth grade. This segment of the population equates to 69 percent of American teens sleeping less than 7 hours of sleep per night.

The Ohio State University conducted a study finding cell phone addiction is linked to an increase in sleep disorders and fatigue especially when used before bedtime. With 57 percent of teens not switching off their cell phones at night, Family Community Health Journal did a study of where your phone sleeps at night. Only 16 percent of people keep their phone in another room at night with one third of teens texting after going to sleep from their bed.

Dorm Sleeping

Your teenager may be heading off to college or living on their own after high school. So how does this affect a college-aged teenager? Irregular patterns. If one night a college student falls asleep at 3 a.m. and the next night 11 p.m. followed by 12 hours of sleep, the cycles are out of sync. The melatonin is released later in the night.

In a study by Phillips with Harvard College students, he found that “irregular sleepers in his study had much later circadian rhythms — by almost three hours, on average.” This irregularity places 27% of college students by a study in Journal of American College Health at risk for developing sleep disorders.

Campus Mind Works at the University of Michigan give three tips to help the onset of sleep start sooner and the REM cycle complete effectiveness.

1. Turn off the cell phones, laptops, iPads, and video games. Take the time 30 minutes prior to bedtime for relaxation, light reading, or meditation.
2. Avoid caffeine. Yes, schedules bounce all over the place in college with late night studying and activities but try to avoid the caffeine after 3 p.m.
3. This may be the hardest but utilize Saturdays and Sundays to stay consistent. Do not wake up at 1 p.m. if you have to readjust every Monday to a 9 a.m. class. Bring some consistency to your schedule and sleep in for a short amount of time on weekends.

Create Routines at Home

If your teenager is not keen on a routine, there may be some underlying reasons. Maybe they are anxious about a new teacher, new friends, or a new course. Here are some tips to help create an anxiety-free zone at home:

1. Be available. Talk to your teens one-on-one so they know you are listening. Keep the time focused without the disturbance of a cell phone or television. Maybe the best place is to talk outside the house. But wherever you talk, make sure they know you are their number one fan.
   
   
2. Avoid caffeine. If the routine is working, consider the elimination of caffeine to before dinner. By cutting out all caffeine 3 hours before bedtime, it will limit bathroom trips and limit the mind being stimulated.
   
   
3. Add oils. For a lot of teenagers, the ambiance of a room is just as important as the routine. Consider trying lavender diffusers or pillow mist. Both will create a relaxing atmosphere in their bedroom.
   
   
4. Bedtime routines. Maybe the routine you think works best does not work well for your teen. Each person is different. Assess if you need to encourage your teen to remove devices from their room and read a book before bedtime or add a few minutes of open talking to calm their nerves.
   
   
5. Cool temps. Keeping their bedroom cooler helps aid the rem cycle and speed up the process of falling asleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation, your body temperature decreases to initiate sleep. By keeping your room in the 60s, you increase the process. The rem cycle is more consistent versus hotter temperatures which can decrease scary dreams for little ones.

If the tips and routines have not helped, your teenager might be suffering from a sleep disorder. It can start at any age and our professionals can help starting with a free consultation.